Indian Antiquary Vol 25

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 93

APRIL, 1896.)
ESSAYS ON KASMIRI GRAMMAR.
87
88. Aorist. This tense30 is Active in form, but is treated as if it were a Passive. Hence the Personal Pronoun (or subject) appears in the Instrumental case, and the Object becomes Subject, while the verb remains active in form. [Regarding the changes of radical vowels and consonants in the Aorist, see $$ 158 and ff.] The Aorist can be formed in three different manners, viz. :(a) With the Personal Pronoun (or noun) (which if the verb was construed actively
would be the subject) in the Instrumental, and the verb with the terminations
of the Aorist given in $ 36, e. g., ju do me stzw. (6) With the Personal Pronoun (or noun) in the Instrumental, and again repeated
as a pronominal suffix at the end of the verb40 (see $$ 37, 47, 48, e.g., pjy do
me susu-m. (c) With the Personal Pronoun not given in the Instrumental, and only given as a
suffix at the end of the verb, e. g., pjg súsu-m. 89. As regards the use of these three varieties, if the instrumental case is nsed, and the grammatical subject is not expressed, the suffix is usually omitted (variety a): but if the pronoun (or noun) in the instrumental is to be supplied from an instrumental in a preceding sentence, or is to be understood from a nominative in a preceding sentence in which, owing to the use of an intransitive verb, a nominative has to be used as the subject of the verb and not an instrumental, I find that the form with the suffix is invariably used. Thus, wis dapun, to speak ; 40 petami dop, hy him was it spoken, i.e., he spoke ; voulas pádi shák-án dop", by the king it was spoken, the king spoke; but wig ai you why pädishák-an dop* tą súsu-n, by the king it was spoken and it-was-sent-by-him, i. e., the king spoke and sent; or
w aishi padishah &u tą dopu-n, the king came and it-was-said-by-bim, i. e., the king came and said. So also jyun opas timau súzu, by them was sent, they sent; but the king spoke and sent men' is
SWAS padishdh-an dopu ta xañi sui-n, by the king it-was-spoken, and men were-sent-by-him.
An intransitive verb can also be used in this impersonal way; 6.9., US, woulun, to weep; Sy wod", he wept : Us, wodu-n, it-was-wept-by-him (Lake, xix. 41).
90. In this tenge, the characteristic vowel of the feminine is a, e. g., jyw sós-ą, and of the masculine w in the singular, and in the plural. Sometimes, however, we find i [e] also in the feminine; e. g., Wys kare-n, whiie the regular form, given in the paradigm is wj8ôza-n. It appears that those verbs which change their root-vowel a into o, take i in the feminine. Thus (Mp.) wte, rachhun has its 3rd pl. fem. aorist wt , rachin (rachhe-n], as compared with wjy sốsa-n, because the former has jrochh for its aorist, and the latter jy súe. I find all Intransitives taking a. So far I have not been able to lay down any better rule for distinguishing the use of these vowels. [The real termination of the fem. pl. ise, written ya in the Sarada character. If the e (ya) is preceded by ta, tah, or , it be comes a. We thus get rachhe n, they (fem.) were protected by him, kare-n, they (fem.) were by made by him, but dsa (not ase), they (fem.) were, sóza-n, they (fem.) were sent by him.] [In the fem. sg. the
[It is derived from the Sanskrit Passive participle.) - Note that the 1st Plural never has a suffix,